Biting hand for treat while training

I have a 6 year old male rescue dog, he is a staffordshire bull terrier. I dont know his complete history as the rescue centre likes to keep his family history private but i know general information about him and according to the rescue centre he was a very stressed and anxious dog due to being constantly hit by a younger child. He is a great dog, very very friendly and loves being petted and cuddled. I have seen a couple of signs of aggresion with him though he has tried to attack 2 female dogs while on his leash but played with another dog while off his lead he also stands up to me and growls when i try to send him to bed or keep him in when im going out the door. The problem is that im trying to train him but today while training him the down command with treats and hand signals whilst my hand was on the ground in front of him he lunged forward snarling and tried to bite my hand obviously to get at the treat. I am a little wary of him as it is because i dont know alot about his past history what would be the best way of training him under these circumstances id really like to keep all my fingers im quite attached to them.

Have only had a bit of experience with a ! year old husky foster who was very food obsessed and had to take it to training for the rescue i was fostering for at short notice ,same day to be honest i was wary of her like you as she was the biggest dog i had dealt with ,knowing i couldn't take her to training with food rewards the way she was biting at my hands pushed me into doing some intense treat training ie sit get reward but i kept my hand in a fist shape with treat jutting out between thumb and finger or in fist(no fingers to get hold off),she got the idea very quickly if i kept my hand still, (pulling away will make them lunge at the treat )when she licked my hand and moved her head away from it i would praise her lots and say good girl gentle and open my hand flat if small treat or let her have it if a bigger treat that could be taken from fist, but if she tried to bite my hand i would ignore her and keep my hand in a fist,it took about 30 minutes for her to get the idea snapping at food meant she didnt get it.You may have some nips on your hands to start with though! Don't know if this will work as each dog is different,i'm sure someone else will have other ideas or more experience, Good luck.

Hi there and well done on taking in a rescue

Egyptgal’s method can be very effective, but only where you are confident that the dog doesn’t actually mean you harm and that what he is doing is no more than bad manners. If you are nervous, you will possibly release the food when he lunges, which isn’t good as it’ll teach him the opposite to what you’re aiming for. Also, it is difficult to say without seeing him in action just how far he will go to try and get the food from you. It is likely that its all a front which he has discovered has worked previously, but as we haven’t seen him in action, we can’t be sure.

My first advice would be to contact the rescue centre and ask for some help. Unfortunately not all rescue centres have the means to provide this help, but you can at least try.

If you have no experience of dealing with guarding issues/pushy dogs and if the rescue can’t help you, I would seriously consider getting some other professional advice, though you need to be careful who you get as some may charge a fortune and then prove to be no help at all. If in doubt you can always check with Dogsey members whether the behaviourists experience/qualifications are appropriate.

You need to build up trust with your dog, but obviously this takes time. Until you can get some professional help, try not to get into confrontational situations. For example,


sending him to his bed....
beds should never be used as a type of punishment (e.g. 'bad dog - get to your bed') but they should always see them as a safe place. Its quite possible that your lad sees being sent to his bed as a very negative thing. Personally I’d avoid forcing him to go to his bed until (1) he trusts you more (2) he realises it’s a safe place and (3) he follows other basic commands like sit, down and stay.

If it was necessary to move him, I would probably leave a house line on him (lightweight lead) and guide him with this.

Leaving the house…..
Again, he needs to see this as a positive thing. Do you have a kong? (in case you don’t know, it’s a rubber dog toy which can be filled with different types of food). I would give him a food filled kong before you leave (there’s no reason why you can’t take it to his bed and drop it in there, then say in your bed before you go out).

Training with treats.
As I say its difficult to know exactly what to say to you without seeing his level of aggression. Until you can get some expert help, you could try training him with some kind of barrier in place – e.g. a baby gate might be good. You could still be close and give him treats, but if he lunges forward you have protection. Its by no means a long term solution, but might help you both to get a bit of confidence about each other in safety.

Good luck with your lad.

I think I`d clicker train this dog. If he`s aware the treat comes after the click he wouldn`t be so urgent about it, I would think.
You can use the method above to give the treat (closed hand / open hand) but that`s hard if you`re using hand signals or lures to train the actual behaviour. Using a clicker makes it more methodical, so he`s following the hand rather than trying to get food out of it.

Clicker was my first thought too

and to give you confidence you can chuck the treats till he really gets the idea that his behaviour causes the click which then gets the treat
Then you can try the method above to teach him to be calm with the treats

Good on you for rescuing him, take it slow to get his trust back